Science Books Readers' Advisory: an ARRT Discussion with Guest Sarah Statz Cords

The Adult Reading Round Table focused on recommending narrative and other popular science books to readers at its April 2007 meeting at the Downers Grove Public Library. Thirty librarians from the Chicago suburbs spent two quick hours discussing science books, their authors, and appeal factors to consider when offering them to readers at public libraries. Sarah Statz Cords, author of The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests, joined us.

Each ARRT meeting focuses on a reading genre or sub-genre. To prepare for the discussion members read one book in common and other titles from a recommended list. For the popular science discussion, the common book was The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which tells the story of the Ebola virus dramatically. As you would expect, not everyone liked the book. For some it was "too icky squishy." Another complaint was that the author set up too many potential crises that just evaporated; Preston could have written a shorter, more effective book. Defenders of the book said they enjoyed the thrilling, suspenseful story with good, likable characters. Having points at which the story got very gross kept them reading.

An unofficial list of appeal factors for science books began to form. Here is a feeble attempt at enumeration of ideas from a complex conversation.

1. Thrilling stories - The Hot Zone is just one of many books where a journalist tells about some threat to human existence. Other, such as The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, tell about great human achievement.

2. Everyday life explained - Some readers like to learn more about what happens to them every day, as told in books like How to Dunk a Donut by Len Fisher.

3. Self knowledge - There are numerous books on the brain, such as An Alchemy of the Mind by Diane Ackerman.

4. Humor and quirkiness - Bill Bryson has weighed into the science genre with A Short History of Nearly Everything.

5. The beauty of science - It can be hard to grasp the concepts but the telling can be mesmerizing, as in The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

6. Great writing - Some scientists can write with grace and insight, as in The Lives of the Cell by Lewis Thomas.

"Unappeal factors" included books with too many technical terms and books that are too long. Some librarians expressed that they liked science books that were more about people of science than science. Others decried that notion.

Part of the fun of the afternoon was taking part in the debates. Do journalists write better science than the scientists? Should the writer be a character in the book? How important is accuracy and authority in science books, which will become outdated by new discoveries? When do science books pass from being current events titles to history titles? When do illustrations help or hinder texts?

Another part of the fun was hearing stray factoids. Ten percent of the weight of your pillow is made up of mites, mite dung, and dead skin. People keep pillows for an average seven years. Over-flossing your teeth leads to heart disease. You may want to look these things up.

The book I want to read now is The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston. One of the librarians had a review copy. It will be released April 10. (ISBN 1400064899)

I left the discussion wanting to attend the next on June 7, when ARRT discusses history and microhistory.

I also left happy to have met Sarah, who drove down from Madison, Wisconsin, where she works at the public library and teaches at the library school at the University of Wisconsin. I was in the group that enjoyed lunch with her. I hope she sells many copies of The Real Story. We keep it at the desk at Thomas Ford.

Vincent Van Gogh, Readers' Advisor

Vincent Van Gogh loved books and talking about them. According to Martin Gayford, author of The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles, he filled his little rented house with reading materials. There were stacks of books and magazines in several rooms. No matter how short his funds he went regularly to the train station to buy several newspapers, and he frequented the local bookshop.

Vincent loved novels and read them in three languages - Dutch, French, and English. He had a very battered copy of La joie de vivre by Emile Zola that he had read many times. He kept up with the works of Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Jean Richepin, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and the brothers Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. He also loved Charles Dickens and George Eliot.

His nonfiction reading must have been concentrated in his magazines and newspapers. Gayford tells about his closely following accounts of the trial of murderer Prado in the Parisian papers.

Vincent was not satisfied with just reading a couple of hours a night. He was always pushing books constantly to his friends and family. He talked about books at taverns and brothels. He sent booklists to his brother Theo and sister Wil. Gauguin read some of what he suggested, but seemed to leave several of the novels covered in yellow paper in his chair (see above).

If Vincent were alive today, maybe he could have a part time job at the public library in Arles. His supervisor could send him to a workshop to hone his advisory techniques. He could also help with library displays and design some promotional materials. I am sure he could use a few extra euros and mental health benefits.

Aggrevating Aggregators: A Note to Bloglines, Google Reader, and Other Readers

If you are reading this blog through an aggregator, you have missed some content. Several times lately I have posted pieces in which I embedded a form from Zoho Creator. Bloglines and Google Reader do not show these. So, if you notice a gap in the text and wonder what should be there, click on the item title and come to the home site of the blog. There you will find a form and be able to easily contribute to a survey.

Yesterday, I asked for help identifying who should be on a core biography list. Click here to see the post with the embedded form. The data you submit goes directly into a database. I will report the results later in another posting.

It is a good idea to occasionally go from the aggregators to the originating sites because there are often sidebar material that you are missing. Many bloggers have posted their favorite links, and some bloggers have created special features, like their own search tools, which you can access from their sites.

The aggregators are great help to readers trying to keep up, but you should not stay within their lines. Stray a bit to see what you might find.

Biographies in the Public Library: Who Should Be in Every Library? A Survey

When students or other readers ask for biographies of some big name historical figures or eminent artist at the reference desk, I am sometimes disappointed by our collection. I think, "We should have had a biography on (fill in the blank)." I wonder how we missed that famous person.

It occurs to me that we buy our books according to reviews of the books, which for the most part works. We want the best books. Still, we sometimes have a subject driven need at the reference desk, so we need some subject driven selection tools to help us be prepared. One thing I do not remember seeing (maybe you can remind me) is a list of core biographies from the viewpoint of who should be covered in the basic good public library.

So, let's make our own! Who should be in the public library on the biography shelves (or elsewhere if you shelve biographies with the Dewey subjects)?

I assume all the U.S Presidents and some of the first ladies, including Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and some other world leaders.

Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Daniel Boone, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other historical figures.

Mahatmas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jane Addams, Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, and other activists and reformers.

Artists should include Michelangelo Buonarrati, Leonardo Da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

William Shakespeare, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, Mark Twain, George Eliot, the Bronte sisters, and other writers.

Scientists should include Galileo Galilei Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and George Washington Carver.

Katherine Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, and some other Hollywood celebrities belong in the list.

So do Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Michael Jordan, and other athletes should be in.

Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Beethoven, Woody Guthrie, and other musical figures should be present.

Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha will be there, too.

I am sure to be missing lots of names. What do you think? Here is another survey. Fill it in and submit and the names will go directly into my Zoho database. I will work on a report later.



We may have some names to debate later, too.

Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin

In Nonfiction Readers' Advisory, Robert Burgin collects a dozen essays on the need for and provision of good library advisory service to nonfiction readers.

Joyce Saricks wrote the introduction, in which she called for "truly helpful reference tools that discuss nonfiction in a way that makes librarians aware of connections and possibilities." She goes on to ask for tools that: 1) group books by nonfiction genre, 2) identify core authors and titles, 3) describe ongoing resources for identifying titles, 4) list "sure bets" to give to readers, and 5) network readers' advisory librarians.

In "A History of Readers' Advisory Service in Public Libraries," Bill Crowley tells about American Library Association's Reading with a Purpose program in the 1920s. Subject specialists wrote prescribed reading lists with very educational intent that were sold by ALA to libraries. The experts had no experience with the reading public and promoted difficult works. Librarians were left out of the process. Pleasure reading was not considered. The program was discontinued because the process of updating was cumbersome.

Kathleen de la Pena McCook in "Beyond Boundaries" says that narrative does not have to be linear or chronological. She later says that nonfiction programming in the library is evidence in interest in nonfiction reading.

In " Many Kinds of Crafted Truths: An Introduction to Nonfiction," David Carr says: "Nonfiction is crafted to communicate accurate images to the reader, so that the reader might in turn craft more complex understandings of lived experiences."

He talks about two types of biographies: 1) great and obvious lives and 2) unexpected lives. "Biography and memoir might easily be described through lenses of integrity, courage, philosophy, faith, ethics, and values. As we read these books, we are able to dwell within entire frames of life and behavior we cannot otherwise occupy."

"Our lives are nonfiction; we want them to hold the qualities we seek as we read; authenticity, confirmation, integrity, discipline, veracity, and insight."

In "Reading Nonfiction for Pleasure: What Motivates Readers,"Catherine Ross lists thirteen observations about nonfiction reading and discusses these observations. "Heavy readers" read both fiction and nonfiction for pleasure. ("Heavy" reference to quantity of books read, not weight of the reader.)

Ross reports that Louise Rosenblatt in The Reader, the Text, the Poem (1978) says that "readers bring to their reading not only prior knowledge but also particular dispositions about how they read texts."

"Biographies in particular are often read as blueprints and models for living."

Duncan Smith in "True Stories: Portraits of Four Nonfiction Readers" examines why people like what they like to read. The circumstances of their lives and the interests with which they have grown up factor heavily in their reading choices.

Stacy Alesi in "Readers' Advisory in the Real World" tells about using book sites on the Internet to help her identify nonfiction books for readers. She wrote in late 2003 or early 2004, saying there were no print tools to help her. That is a changing situation.

In "The Story is the Thing: Narrative Nonfiction for Recreational Reading," Vicki Novak defines narrative nonfiction and lists ten reasons to read nonfiction.

The twelve essays in Nonfiction Readers' Advisory give librarians much to consider. They are now three years old and the issue has been discussed in library literature, on blogs, and at conferences, but this text is still a good starting place for study.

Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2004ISBN 159158115x

Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald

Do you still comb your bald spot? Do you still feel the wind blowing your hair that has not been there for years? Surprised every time you see your reflection? Avoiding mirrors? Maybe you should read Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald.

This handy guide starts with a history of hair loss among the ancient Egyptians and Greeks with quotes from Socrates via Plato about fate and the loss of locks. Chapters advising against comb-overs, toupees, and hair transplants follow. The third section of the book rates soft brushes that will not scratch the unprotected scalp. In the appendix is a directory of Bald is Beautiful support groups.

Of course, bald people are not the only ones to suffer from phantom hair loss. People who suddenly get short hair cuts suffer, too. Military libraries should stock extra copies.

Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald. Austin: Colorado River Publishers, 2005.

Avenue of the Saints by Dana Robinson

One of the perks for a library with a folk music series is that musicians wanting to play the venue send free CDs. At Thomas Ford we recently received Avenue of the Saints from Dana Robinson, a North Carolinian who will come with his partner Susan to the library in September 2008 (we're booking far in advance). Dana said that he sent this CD to us because it has a more Mid-Western sound than his other CDs.

"Avenue of the Saints" is a good collection of songs, most written by Robinson, with a lot of variety evoking many moods. He is also a talented guitarist and has a very clear voice. Listeners understand what he sings and can pick up on the choruses. They will especially want to join in on the lively song "What Would Woody Do?" - a modern tribute to Woody Guthrie.

The title song refers to Robinson's driving around the Mid-West. The avenue is U.S. Highway 61, which takes travelers along the Mississippi River between St. Louis and St. Paul, where he notices not only "factory outlets and budget motels" but "bald eagles." Slowly he wakes for another day of driving, and you might want to join him.

My favorite song may be "Susquehanna/Casper & Dots" on which Robinson plays a mandolin and is accompanied by friends on accordion and banjo. The slow shuffle of the first piece moves into a bouncy bluegrass reel. I also really like the traditional song "Ain't No Cane," which has a Cajun sound.

Dana and Susan Robinson have a website with samples of their music (you can listen to samples, download individual songs or order CDs), their schedule, contact information, and entertaining notes from their tours.

I am adding Avenue of the Saints to our library's Friday at the Ford folk collection.

How Readers Are Finding Their Books Survey Results

It has been over a week since I posted my poll using Zoho Creator. To date twenty-six responses are in, including two of my own to see if the form worked. Here are the results, showing how select readers are finding the books they read:

I read a review - 11
A friend recommended the book - 3
A librarian recommended the book - 2
I was given the book - 0
I was assigned the book - 1
I found it on a library shelf or display - 7
I found the book at a bookstore - 1
I found the book online - 0

One person made creative use of the title field to tell me they learned of the book by seeing its author on television.

I only added the "librarian recommended" choice after a comment from a reader who had chosen "friend recommended" because there was not a closer choice. He said he did consider the librarian a friend, so it was okay. The upshot is that the counts are fuzzy.

Reading interests of the respondents are diverse. Fourteen of the books are nonfiction and twelve are fiction. Three of the books are not held by libraries in the Metropolitan Library System (Chicago area). One is in German. One was published in Australia.

Click here to see the Zoho table where the responses reside. Included are the titles that readers entered. You can also search or filter the table, which is pretty cool.

The form still resides on my previous post if you wants to respond and then see the table change.

Thanks, everyone.

Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq

Armies in combat kill noncombatants. Whether the killings are intentional or accidental, it always happens. Many men, women, and children who are trying to avoid the conflict lose their lives. All the war zone survivors lose family and friends and suffer great hardships. This is the case in every diary in Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq, edited by Zlata Filipovic, whose tale of Sarajevo is included, and Melanie Challenger.

Filipovic and Challenger have been broad in their selection of diaries. The young writers have many viewpoints about the rightness of the causes of war. Some change their minds during the course of their experiences, while others harden into original prejudices. They even include diaries from young soldiers, who admit killing innocent people.

The last three diaries from Israeli, Palestinian, and Iraqi youth are especially powerful, as readers knows the situations are unresolved. The three all express helplessness. The last diary will be particularly hard for anyone trying to make political sense of the war in Iraq. Hoda Thamir Jehad describes American soldiers killing her friends and her neighbors as they sweep down her street and invade the houses. Despite this, she cheers the Americans for deposing Hussein and promising democracy. Her diary ends in early 2004. I wonder what she thinks now.

Reading is a sub-theme in the book. Most of the young diarists tell about the books they are reading to escape their misery or to improve themselves for a brighter day.

Stolen Voices is a book that should be in all public and school libraries.

Filipovic, Zlata, ed. Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 9780143038719

Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction by Lynda G. Adamson

Nonfiction readers' advisory is getting more attention. Add to the recent list of titles Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction by Lynda G. Adamson. It will sit well with Real Story by Sarah Statz Cords and Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin.

What Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction does differently from most readers' advisory titles is tell more about fewer books. This 352-page book discusses only 155 popular nonfiction titles. In the preface Adamson tells how she chose them. She identifies the booklists that she used to find recurring titles. From approximately 800 titles, she culled standard biography and history, which often have neutral voices, and kept books with distinctive author viewpoints. The resulting list is heavy on memoirs and autobiography. Other books include the stories of the authors' quests for insight on their topics.

Because of the depth of information on the featured titles, the guide is an excellent starting point for students or book discussion groups looking for a book. Any book in this guide will have many reviews or other critical materials available.

Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction is not intended as a selection guide. Adamson does not include publisher information on the 155 books. Librarians should, however, note any titles that they are missing and consider them for acquisition.

I like some of the themes that Adamson identifies: change, desire, expatriate experiences, immigrants, roaming, and sports dreams. In an appendix are many more themes, among them aesthetic values, belonging, betrayal, oppression, and scientific study. If a reader has read a book identified in this book, then he/she has numerous suggested next titles.

Libraries serious about readers' advisory will want this book.

Adamson, Lynda. Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN 0313328552

A Library Loss of Control Dream

Last night I dreamt I was at my first library, which was in the dream three times larger than it ever was. It had a maze of rooms and corridors. I found my way to the reference desk. Here is what happened.

Two insurance men come to the desk and one askes to use the meeting room again to present an "informative" program. He almost laughs when he says "informative." I tell them that they may not because they broke their promise not to promote themselves. The taller man says, "Wasn't that great! I sold five policies on the spot. He sold three."

While I am explaining that this is against library meeting room policy, I look up to see an older woman in a floor-length fur coat and her chauffeur headed for the emergency exit. I bound over and say, "Stop, please, the alarm will sound." They ignore me and go right through. The alarm sounds and I stop it with my key.

After I reset the alarm, I turn and see a long line of older women in floor-length furs headed my way! Then I wake from the dream.

Occasionally I have library dreams and almost all go back to the scene of my first professional position. I was new to the field and had little authority then. It makes psychoanalytic sense to have my dreams there.

Do you have library dreams?

Historic Photos of Chicago: Text and Captions by Russell Lewis of the Chicago History Museum

Russell Lewis observes in his preface to Historic Photos of Chicago that many photographs of the city are locked in archives and not readily available to the students and researchers who could use them. With help from the staff of the Chicago History Museum (formerly called the Chicago Historical Society), he selected 167 representative photos from its archives to arrange by era and publish in this book. Lewis hopes that the book will serve as a good visual introduction to the city.

The book fulfills his wish, as the sequence of images does suggest the passing of time and the complexity of urban history. Most famous buildings and people of the city are included, as are the world's fairs, presidential conventions, and other events. The Great Fire of 1871 is especially well-covered. All the images are black and white and untouched, except for simple restoration.

As a reference librarian, however, I would have liked a little information for my clients. The captions are short, and the notes in the back of the book do not give dates that the photographs were taken; I realize that the dates may be unknown for some of the older images, but estimates would have helped. There is no index to the subjects in the photos.

Many of the images taken between 1902 and 1933 are from the Daily News Collection at the Chicago History Museum. The museum has 55,000 images from this collection available for viewing on its website. These are searchable.

Most public and academic libraries in the Chicago area should add this attractive book. Outside the area, libraries strong in American history or urban studies should consider it.

Historic Photos of Chicago: Text and Captions by Russell Lewis of the Chicago History Museum. Nashville: Turner Publishing Company, 2006. ISBN 1596522550

Baseball Books for Display

Baseball season is fast approaching. It is time to put out some book displays in libraries. I have long been a fan, though I now read the books more than follow the daily scores. Here are some of the titles that I have enjoyed and recommend.

Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by Stephen Jay Gould - Gould was a lifelong fan. This book collected essays he wrote over many years. Many of them weigh in on controversies, such as does a curve ball really curve and who were the best center fielders.

Baseball Lives: Men and Women of the Game Talk about Their Jobs, Their Lives, and the National Pastime by Mike Bryan - This is a Studs Terkel-like book about concessionaires, groundskeepers, ticket sellers, and everyone else who makes a living from major league baseball.

Home is Everything by Marcos Breton - Latin American players have had a huge impact on the game. Coming up from third world poverty, they have great desire to succeed. Many do not make it.

Glove Affairs: The Romance, History, and Tradition of the Baseball by Noah Liberman - This is a beautifully illustrated little book. You will hardly believe what the old players used to wear.

Lost Ballparks by Lawrence S. Ritter - There was a time when there were no flashing Jumbotrons.

Why is the Foul Pole Fair? by Vince Staten - Staten explains baseball rules and traditions with interesting stories.

I Was Right on Time by Buck O'Neil - O'Neil was a centerpiece of Ken Burns' documentary series on baseball. In his book he tells about the Negro leagues and integration of major league baseball.

Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball by Joe Morgan - Now a broadcaster, Morgan articulately tells the story of a black player in the second wave still meeting discrimination. The Astros made a bad trade with the Reds.

The American Game by Ira Rosen - Minor League baseball is more fun.

Jane Goodall at the Inside the Mind of Chimpanzee Conference

On Sunday Bonnie and I heard Jane Goodall speak at the final event of Inside the Mind of Chimpanzees, a conference sponsored by Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. The presentation was open to the public and held in Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom. 1700 people attended, most as in awe as I was. I do not remember ever seeing anyone as eminent as Jane Goodall.

Before Goodall took the stage, we heard Richard Wrangham, the author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. He spoke about latest research into chimpanzee intelligence and showed a series of videos of chimps solving problems. I wish there were copies on YouTube so I could link to them. They showed chimps going far beyond making simple tools to fish for termites.

Goodall received a standing ovation for just appearing on the stage. She appeared to speak without notes and kept the audience enthralled with her stories and observations. She told of her early career and the life changing events that led her to pursue environmentalism. Her report on her recent activities updated her book Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey. I think she said that Roots and Shoots, her program to educate youth to care for the earth, now has groups in over 90 countries.

Goodall said that she travels about 300 days a year to give presentations worldwide, so you may have a chance to see her where ever you are. Do so if you can. If you hear she is coming to your area, put up a book display. She has written many books, including a series for children. Her latest book, Harvest for Hope: A Guide for Mindful Eating, calls for people to change eating and shopping habits to influence the food industry.

The Book That I Am Currently Reading Survey Continues

You still have a chance to add the book you are reading to the impromtu survey that I posted using Zoho Creator. The survey box is embedded in a previous post on this blog.

So far, there is a tie for how people chose to read the books that they are reading with "I read a review" and "I found it on a library shelf or display." You have a chance to break the tie or lift the other choices.

Writing Lives: Principia Biographica by Leon Edel

I continue my study of biography as a literary form with Writing Lives: Principia Biographica by Leon Edel (1907-1997). Edel is most know for his five volume biography of Henry James and his editing of collections of that author's letters, plays, and stories. Edel also wrote frequently on the topic of biography, and this book is an expansion and revision of two of his previous books. The focus of Writing Lives is the act of writing biography about writers, so the title has a sort of double meaning.

What most readers will enjoy in Edel's book are his stories about the biographers. He has sections on Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Izaak Walton, Andre Maurois, Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf, and Harold Nicolson, most of whom are also discussed in The Nature of Biography by Robert Gittings; these writers seem to be considered the key figures in the development of the literary form. Edel tells about their contributions and their shortcomings, cautioning that it is not always fair to judge them from a more modern standpoint.

There are many interesting anecdotes.

Boswell was very disappointed that Johnson signed a contract to write Lives of the Poets that stipulated that the author would include figures dictated by the publisher. Boswell believed in writing only about subjects that he admired. Johnson was more mercenary yet still maintained independence in what he wrote about the designated subjects.

Lytton Strachey urged biographers to be brief in their prose, writing "into a few shining pages the manifold existences of men." He told writers to illustrate and not to explain lives. Edel points out that while Strachey helped make biography more interesting to read, he was also very guilty of fabricating unknown thoughts and feelings for his subjects.

For the professional Edel discusses the form of the biography, stating that there are three main types:

1. the traditional documentary biography, also called a chronicle,
2. the portrait or pictorial, and
3. the omniscient narrator biography, also called the novelistic biography.

Edel favors the second type, which sketches out the character of the subject through key incidents and does not try to be exhaustive like the first type. He indicates that the third type often skates on ethical ice.

Edel warns biographers that it is usually dull for readers to find accounts of the biographical research in the biographies. (I would disagree, but I am a librarian who enjoys the paper chase.) He suggests that if they must tell stories about their work, they should save them for their own memoirs. There is a memoir aspect to Writing Lives. Edel ends the book with a 32 page story about his writing the famous series on Henry James.

Worldcat shows 666 copies of the book still available in libraries. Writers, librarians, and readers serious about literature will enjoy it.

Edel, Leon. Writing Lives: Principia Biographica. New York: Norton, 1984. ISBN 0393018822

wikiHow: Advice from Anyone

Here is an interesting application of wikis. A website called eHow now has a social wiki called wikiHow. On wikiHow anyone can write instructional material about anything and some other member can modify it. Today there are instruction How to Turn Around a Bad Day at Work. I also see related links to How to Lose Your Fear of Being Fired and How to Call in Sick When You Just Need a Day Off. I do not think you find that last topic addressed very often, maybe for good reasons. Over 100,000 people have looked at that last one.

Not all the help is work related. I see instructions for wrapping a sari, designing your own home, making ricotta cheese, reading aviation routine reports, and hacking a coke machine. There is obviously no ethics panel reviewing the subjects. It looks like you have the right to say anything.

At the bottom of each page is the user name of the creator of the instructional page and names of those who have modified it. You can vote whether a page is accurate.

Next time I need some strange advice, like how to cut in line at a bar, I will try this site.

Seriously, I can imagine legislators or congress people looking at this and say that "There are a few bad pages - let's shut it down!" That would be very wrong. There actually is very much that is good and helpful and democratic. This kind of website is what makes the web so interesting.

Playing Around with Zoho Creator

I have been looking at Zoho Creator for several days, setting up a database about biographical books. Set up is pretty easy, though I need to learn much about later exporting the data for using it elsewhere. In looking at the training videos, I discovered that I can embed a form onto this webpage to collect data that will go directly into the database.

So, here is a test. Tell me what book you are reading and how you picked the title. If you want to use an alias, that's okay. If you want to answer more than once, you can do that, too.



I will display the results in a few days and we will all learn more about how this free database tool works. Maybe we will all learn what and why people are reading.

The Little Book of Plagiarism by Richard A. Posner

How much can you say about plagiarism? Quite a lot if you are Richard A. Posner, a judge in the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Do not let the small size of The Little Book of Plagiarism fool you. There is much to consider.

Posner's book does read a bit like a legal brief. He begins by defining plagiarism and then describing various cases that may or may not fall within the definition. He includes a fairly thorough discussion of the Kaavya Viswanathan's use of passages from Megan McCafferty's books in the writing of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. What Viswanathan did from a writing viewpoint was not much different than what William Shakespeare did in taking a passage from Plutarch's Life of Marc Antony in his play Antony and Cleopatra. The difference is that no copyright existed to protect Plutarch, who was long dead, and Shakespeare did not actually publish his play during his lifetime. Viswanathan's book was in direct competition in the women's literature market with the books of McCafferty. The legal problem was copyright infringement, not plagiarism.

Posner also discusses why students are punished severely when caught plagiarising, while professors who plagiarize in their journal articles and books often get slight reprimands. Also, the cases of Joseph Biden using a British political speech in one of his adresses and Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose using passages from scholarly journals in their popular histories are examined. Biden, who had his speech written for him by staff, suffered far more than the history writers, who certainly knew what they did.

Posner discusses the growth and limitations of plagiarism-checking software, the concept of originality, and the need for fair use in the creative process. The Little Book of Plagiarism is a good little book.

Posner, Richard A. The Little Book of Plagiarism. New York: Pantheon Books, 2007. ISBN 9780375424755

Survey Results: Use of ricklibrarian Book Reviews

Three weeks ago I posted a survey about the use of the book reviews on this blog. Ten very nice people took the time to take the three-question survey. While the number of respondents is low, I did get an answer to my question "Has anyone ever used the book reviews?"

Of the ten people responding, six have purchased a book (for themselves or their libraries) based on a book review on this blog.

Nine of ten people have read a book I recommended.

Also, nine of ten have used my reviews in choosing items to recommend to their readers.

I am pleased. 6.5 billion more people to reach. Thanks.

The Nature of Biography by Robert Gittings

In 1977, Robert Gittings (1911-1992) presented a series of three lectures on the history and prospects for biography as a literary form. As a poet and the author of biographies about John Keats and Thomas Hardy, he was serving as a visiting professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. The essays were reprinted as The Nature of Biography.

Though thirty years have passed, much of what Gittings says in The Nature of Biography remains true. He cautions that while increased technology (at the time photocopiers and microfilm) has made records more accessible, writing contemporary biography is still difficult because there is so much the writer will never know. He also says that in an sophisticated world, biographical subjects are always working to protect their private thoughts and motivations. Documentary evidence should always be questioned, he warns, as its quality, reliability, and relevance are suspect in a stage-managed environment.

The form of the biography has changed much from the nineteenth century when a biographer was thought out of bounds for profiling the subject in the context of history, politics, the economy, psychology, and societal influences. Now the biographer is expected to understand and reflect a wide range of disciplines in summing up one life.

Gittings takes some biographers to task for needlessly reporting on biographical controversies in their texts. He says that readers want to read about people and not about about biographers who disagree among themselves on every piece of evidence.

The Nature of Biography is a small book that is a good introduction to the literary form. Many libraries still have it.

Gittings, Robert. The Nature of Biography. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. ISBN 0295956046

Gina Millsap, Mover and Shaker

Turn to page 35 of the Movers and Shakers Supplement to Library Journal and you will see that Gina Millsap has been named a Mover and Shaker for 2007 under the category of Community Builders. This honor is not surprising. When I worked with Gina at the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Missouri, she was already showing her energy and creativity as the Young Adult Librarian. She was hawking teen books and running programs for youth and older clients, too. I remember her showing movies on Sunday nights when that meant she had to thread film through a projector. She made everything fun.

I last saw Gina at the 2002 Public Library Association conference in Phoenix, where she and Charlaine Ezell spoke well about long-range planning. She was directing a library in Iowa at the time. Now she is at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, expanding the use of social tools to make a more user-centric library.

Congratulations, Gina!

Perfect Once Removed: When Baseball Was the World to Me by Phillip Hoose

Perfect Once Removed by Phillip Hoose is a book with many positive appeal factors. It is a childhood memoir, a genre that many readers enjoy. Its focus is his obsession with baseball, a sport with strong reader loyalty. The setting is interesting: Hoose remembers being an eight year old moving into Speedway, Indiana, where crowds come to attend the annual Indianapolis 500. The story line is also intriguing. He has moved for the fourth time in three years and joins the local third grade in the middle of the school year. He is having trouble making friends. When he learns that his cousin once removed is New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen, he uses the connection to impress schoolmates and adults. Late in the story Larsen pitches the perfect game.

Hoose was a boy with a lot of imagination. Once he receives a card from his famous cousin, he begins to imagine scenes where the Yankee players are in the dugout or locker room talking about how he is doing in Little League. He creates a fantasy Mickey Mantle who is always asking Larsen about his little cousin's progress. Later, Hoose meets the Yankees in a hotel on a rainy Chicago day. How his image of Mantle changes only slightly is worth pondering.

Hoose is a very accomplished writer. You may have enjoyed his book The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. I did.

Thanks to Lori at the Downers Grove Public Library for recommending Perfect Once Removed. I enjoyed it a lot. Lori is adding the book to one of her new booklists.

You can label Hoose's book a "quick read" that is a "sure bet."

Hoose, Phillip. Perfect Once Removed: When Baseball Was All the World to Me. New York: Walker and Company, 2006. ISBN 0802715370

Dave Potts Singing at the Ford Library

Dave Potts Singing at the Ford Library
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

After a long drive from Alabama, with a stop in Carbondale, eager to get real Chicago pizza, Dave Potts arrived at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library last night for our Friday at the Ford concert. With his guitar and with his Chicago friend Kip Rainey from the bluegrass group Tangleweeds at his side playing mandolin, he sang about a dozen of his compositions about modern life in the South.

My favorite song was "If I Broke the Record," which told the story of a minor league baseball player in Birmingham, not talented enough for the majors but still proud of the way he plays. I also really liked "$12.99," a song about cheap sweatshirts and unexpected romance. "Martin" was another interesting piece, which told the story about a high school hero who never went very far but still had style.

As you might have discerned by now, most of Dave's songs are stories. He said he has at least eleven about why a guy from Denver likes living in Auburn, Alabama, but he did not sing them all.

Between songs Dave made numerous humorous observations. He wondered why all the Chicago higway maps identify expressways by numbers but all the radio stations identify them with names that someone from Alabama would not know. He never knew on which old dead guy he was driving. He then conceded that he had heard of Eisenhower.

Dave sold 8 or 10 CDs after the show for the price of $12.99 or 2 for $20. He said that he would like to play at more libraries. Contact information is on his website, as is sample music.

Filtering Threats from Illinois Legislature

A bill in the Illinois Legislature threatens to make filtering in libraries and schools manditory across the state with no thought of local control or civil liberties. Robert Doyle of the Illinois Library Association sums up the danger well in his letter of March 15.

If you live in Illinois, you should get your friends to join you in lobbying against House Bill 1727.

An Evening with Lee & Bob Woodruff: A Disappoinment

Last night I attended a presentation of authors Lee and Bob Woodruff, who talked about their new book In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing, which tells about Bob's recovery from traumatic brain injury after being injured in action in Iraq. The event sponsored by Anderson's Bookshops was held at Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois, and attendance was good. The auditorium was almost filled. I had ticket number 664. Many books were sold and the lines for autographs were long, so the evening was a success for the bookstore, but I was disappointed.

Three things bothered me.

The first is that the central part of the event was set up as an interview. The Woodruffs sat across from Chuck Goudie, an ABC newsman who conducted the interview. Goudie did not seem prepared. He even joked about borrowing some questions. His questions seemed without focus, the pace was was slow, and I felt much time was wasted. Goudie called for audience questions rather early in the evening.

Audience questions can be good or bad. It was hard to tell because no microphones were provided. There were some interesting people in the audience who had experiences with traumatic brain injuries, but I could not hear what they said. Goudie and the Woodruffs had to repeat audience questions and comments.

There was no reading from the book. Authors ought to always give the audience readings from the books they are promoting. They should hook them into their prose. I left not really interested in the book.

Lee Woodruff was articulate, and Bob Woodruff spoke well for someone still recovering from his brain injuries. It was unfortunate that we heard from them so little of the time.

The lesson for bookstores and libraries is think twice before you let local news personalities run your author presentations. The Woodruffs are on tour for the next few weeks, so if you are in charge, check the arrangements.

Additions to the Librarian's Book Revoogle

I have just added seven librarian-generated book review websites to the Librarian's Book Revoogle. If you have not heard, the revoogle lets you search for book reviews written by librarians or posted on library websites.

A Fuse #8 Production - children's book reviews and news

Biblio File - many children and YA reviews, some adult reviews

Bluestalking Reader - book reviews, news, and author interviews from a library program coordinator

It's All About the Book - lots of YA fiction, some adult reviews

Mostly NF Blog - from Pierce County Library System, Washington

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - children's books, poetry, interviews with authors

Tillabooks - emphasis on science fiction and fantasy

As I have said before, please send me any new library book review suggestions. I try to add as many as I can. I have added all but one so far. The one library website I left out assigned URLs for its webpages by numbers with no hierarchy, not allowing me to limit to just book reviews. Because that library had a lot of other content, its inclusion would have lessen the reliability of the searches.

The Division Street Princess: A Memoir by Elaine Soloway

In The Division Street Princess by Elaine Soloway, there is a strong sense of time and place. The time is 1942 to 1951, when the United States is at war, wins, and starts changing in many ways. The place is 2505 W. Division Street in Chicago, just west of the intersection with Western Avenue, four blocks east of Humboldt Park, where Soloway's parents (with help from other family members) buy the downstairs grocery and name it Irv's Finer Foods. The Jewish immigrant couple is pursuing the "American Dream."

Irv's Finer Foods becomes the center of the universe for Soloway, who at age four is a helper in the store. From her own child-sized counter, she witnesses wartime scarcity, customer credit problems, extended family interactions, her father's candy bar addiction, and her mother's struggle to balance the books. During the time, the ethnic and racial make-up of the community begins to change, as friends and family move to the suburbs. Eventually, an A & P Supermarket opens across the street, challenging the family to find a way to continue.

The world that Soloway describes is charming but it is also dangerous. Bookies work out of back rooms. Strange men tempt little girls outside community centers. The newspapers are filled with kidnapping stories. The Division Street Princess can be used as evidence that life was not so much better "way back when."

More Chicago region public libraries should add this wonderful book. Libraries outside the area should also consider it. It should be added to World War II home front booklists.

Soloway, Elaine. The Division Street Princess: A Memoir. Minneapolis: Syren Book Company, 2006. ISBN 0929636635

Caramel Enjoys the Flowers

When I got another delivery of flowers this afternoon, I decided it was time to take some photos. I cleared the dining room table and began trying to take artful shots. Our curious cat Caramel came immediately to see if she could help. She did. She saved you from seeing totally boring flower pictures!

There are more photos at my Flickr site. Thanks, Thomas Ford staff, they are beautiful!

Johnny Cash: The Biography by Michael Streissguth

Johnny Cash was complicated and unruly. His drug abuse and pursuit of fame tore his first marriage apart, and he essentially abandoned his girls. He fought television producers and the music establishment. He fought with June Carter before and after their marriage. He sometimes went on stage unable to remember lines or play his guitar. Sometime he could not make it onto the stage, forcing many cancellations. Yet, he is forgiven and beloved by country music fans worldwide. In Johnny Cash: The Biography, Michael Streissguth tells an unvarnished story of a man who was considered a champion of working people and spiritual leader for the unfortunate.

In nearly 300 pages, Streissguth tells a detailed, mostly chronological story, which includes many comments from Cash's friends and family. Readers learn much about Cash's parents and siblings and the poverty of Depression era Arkansas. Included is the story of his brother Jack's death, which is very different from the story told in the movie Walk the Line. Readers follow Cash through the early stages of his career to stardom, through his lean years and then to the resurgence prior to his death. All along they learn much about the singer and his constant struggle with himself.

According to Streissguth, Cash kept his distance from the Nashville establishment for years, insisting that he was a folk singer, not a country musician. Of course, Cash was at the same time performing mostly country venues and his records were played on country radio. When CBS signed him for a television show around 1970, he embraced a country identity and endorsed conservative patriotism. Later in life, when his recordings were no longer selling well, he again became a rebel, recording some songs from alternative rock performers. At the very end, he seemed without direction.

Cash will remain a discussed figure for years, and most public libraries should have books about him. This book is a good choice.

Streissguth, Michael. Johnny Cash: The Biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2006. ISBN 0306813688

Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio

What does your family eat in a week? Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio asked that question around the world and with the answers created Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, a worthy sequel to their books Material World and Women in the Material World.

For Hungry Planet, Menzel and D'Aluisio visited thirty families in twenty-four countries. Each family profile starts with a photograph of the family with all the food that they would eat in a week spread across the dining room table, in a common room, or in front of whatever dwelling they inhabit. The displays vary greatly. In Guatemala the Mendoza family stands outside behind a couple of tables loaded with colorful vegetables, a basket of berries, and big sacks of corn, potatoes, and onions. The Ukitas in Japan are in their living room with a table covered with fish and vegetables and packaged foods spread across the floor. In front of the Aboubakars family in a Darfur refugee camp in Chad are two medium bags of grain, a small bag of legumes, and about a dozen little bags of fruits and nuts. The three U.S. families profiled have large but ethnically differing displays.

Following the family photos are grocery lists, essays about the families, statistics about their countries, family recipes, and more colorful photos. The photos often show members of the family shopping, cooking, or harvesting crops, but Menzel also includes them at local celebrations, engagement parties, and restaurants. In the profile of the Aymes family of Equador there are photos of them hiking in the mountains with their mule, fruit sellers in the market of Zumbagua, and sheep awaiting their turn for slaughter.

Hungry Planet also includes essays on economic, health, environmental, and moral issues. "McSlow" is about the slow food movement. "Launching a Sea Ethic" discusses the depletion of fish populations and implications for food supplies. "Diabesity" reveals increasing health problems associated with increasing use of sweet processed foods. My favorite essay is "Cart a la Carte" which points out that street food is a result of industrialization; there must be people working away from home for a street food movement to begin; with prosperity, street food moves indoors.

Hungry Planet was named the James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year. It would be a great discussion book. Every library should have a copy or two.

Menzel, Peter and Faith DAluisio. Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. Napa, California: Material World Books, 2005. ISBN 1580086810

Hinsdale Hospital Same Day Surgery: A Review of My Day

I arrived at Hinsdale Hospital a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. on Friday for my hernia surgery. First thing that I learned was that the doctor had an emergency and my 9:00 a.m. surgery was push back an hour. That gave me plenty of time to figure out how to tie the gown behind my back.

As I waited in the receiving room, I was struck by how happy the staff sounded. From behind my pale colors curtain, I could hear talk about diets and dancing and lots of laughing. Everyone seemed at ease.

I dreaded getting the IV, but it was not bad at all. My arm did get a little cold and my temperature stayed low the entire time I was in the hospital.

By the time Bonnie found me, I was ready for surgery and had read about fifteen pages of biography of Johnny Cash.

The doctor then was reported to be on time after all. I gave my book to Bonnie and I was taken to the surgery ward early, where I was told I might be ready in ten to fifteen minutes. Everything there was blue, including scrubs, gowns, caps, curtains, and chairs. I wished that I had my camera, thinking I could have gotten some great shots for my Flickr site. I have drawn a picture instead. The view is from my bed.

After waiting about an hour and forty minutes, hearing my doctor's name three times over the paging system, I was taken into the operating room. There were lots of ceiling lights. I did not notice much more before I was asleep.

When I woke up an hour and a half later, everyone was still in blue.

I tried to remember all the names of the nurses, who were all very friendly and helpful, but I forgot.

I got a wheelchair ride to the south exit. The attendant wore a scarlet jacket. I left about 2:30 p.m. Bonnie drove me home.

Thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes!

How Do You Learn Best? Material Types in Libraries

On Tuesday I went to the hospital for pre-surgery testing. Upon arrival, I was asked to complete a four-page medical history. Among the lines about previous surgeries (appendix and tonsils when I was a kid) and about medications I regularly take (none), I found the following question.

Do you learn best by: 1) reading, 2) video, 3) listening, 4) demonstration?

I was uncertain how to answer, as I learn by all of those methods frequently. I have never had my abilities to learn ranked. Instead of totally skipping the question, I wrote to the side, "It depends on the subject." I thought the topic might then come up in the interview that followed, but it did not.

I assume that the question was asked so I can get effective self-care information. I think that I would like to get a combination of the four instruction methods. Before or after the surgery, I will have time to watch a video about my surgery and caring for my incision. I will listen to anything the doctors and nurses say. (I doubt they have recorded audio instruction.) I hope they demonstrate exactly how to do whatever it is I have to do. I will gladly take home reference material to remind me what it is I have to do.

Our clients would also like instruction from all four categories in our libraries. We do well having print material to read, but we sometimes fall short on the audio and video material. I try to keep (I sometimes slip) a list of requested items that my library did not have. Many of the items on the list are video related: a DVD on pioneer women of Kansas, a video on Anthony of Egypt, a video on the Tower of London, a DVD on Irish soccer stars, a DVD for mandolin instruction, and so forth. The expectation that we will have these materials is growing, sometimes fueled by class assignments that require a bit of video in the final presentation.

We use interlibrary loan more now than ever before, and getting video material is part of the trend. Unfortunately for us, there are still some libraries that will not loan video material. In some schools and colleges, the videos are on reserve for class assignments, which is understandable. In other cases, libraries want to keep their small number of videos and DVDs local. Whatever, we have some difficulties getting what is requested.

The other problem is that our clients request materials that do not exist. There is no profit to be made by making videos of some of the specific topics for which we are asked.

We are slowing shifting our budgets to buy more audio and video material. Whether we ever have a building as full of DVDs as books may depend on what happens on the Internet. Will higher transmission speeds foster more content that will be readily available for public use at a reasonable cost? Will libraries be left out of the loop? It is hard to say. I suspect our collections will never fully meet our users expectations, but we can try.

Back to my body. It may never meet my expectations either. On Friday, I have outpatient surgery for an inguinal hernia. I may not be posting for a few days. Wish me well.

The City of Nashville

I'm back. I spent the last four days as a chaperon for the Downers Grove North High School choirs trip to Nashville, Tennessee. The choirs sang in the acoustically rich Belmont Baptist Church, a facility of Belmont University, a very music oriented school at one end of Music Row. Two professors from the college worked with the four choirs on Saturday morning.

Another objective of the trip was introducing the students to the musical heritage of the city. We visited historic RCA Studio B, the Ryman Auditorium (that's a Minnie Pearl hat and dress to the left), and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and attended the late Saturday program at the Grand Ole Orpy. Alison Krauss, John Waite, Ricky Skaggs, Little Jimmie Dickens, the Virginia Boys, Porter Wagoner, the Whites, and Bill Anderson were among the performers during the live radio broadcast.

The presentation in RCA Studio B reminded me of the opera lectures that we have at our library. Our guide, who knew much and loved her subject, spoke about the history of the facility and played excerpts from famous songs recorded there. With good stories and a little technical wizardry, she taught and entertained the students, faculty, and chaperons. I particularly enjoyed learning about acoustics (baffles were placed around the room) and seeing the piano that was used in many sessions between 1957 ans 1977. Of course Elvis was featured in the stories, but hundreds of other country and rock stars used the studio. It is interesting to think about how music that just seems to come from the radio or the Internet really comes from some special space.

Downtown Nashville has a handy convention center, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. I see why LITA had its forum there last fall. We had a wonderful eating barbecue (vegetarian plates were available), shot pool, and line danced at the Wildhorse Saloon. We also had a time to wander along Broadway, where I found both the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and Lawrence Records (which has lots of old vinyl recordings).

I found the advice from Frommer's Nashville & Memphis by Linda Romine was useful for preparing for the trip. I wish I had actually taken it with me, too.

I would gladly attend a library conference in Nashville.

You can see more of my photos at Flickr.

The Beatles "Love"

When I first heard about The Beatles "Love", I was not paying attention. I thought that the music was just being repackaged. I had no idea that Giles Martin, son of George Martin, had so brilliantly remixed and combined songs until I heard the December 21, 2006 podcast from National Public Radio All Songs Considered. I listened to it twice just to hear the incredible music.

Giles Martin took all the Beatles 4-track and 8-track studio tapes, digitized them, and remixed pieces of them in amazing ways. The CD starts with "Because" stripped of instrumentals, leaving just the haunting voices. "Drive My Car" flows into "The Word" and then into "What You're Doing" naturally. The cello in "Eleanor Rigby" is lifted up. In some songs, any acoustic nook is filled with bits from other songs. Sometimes voices are put over different instrumental. You have to listen carefully. Nothing foreign is introduced. Every note and sound is from Beatles recordings.

It is mad and crazy and delightful. Paul McCartney said it is "insane." I am listening in the car on the way to work today. I'd better go.

A Pizza the Size of the Sun: Poems by Jack Prelutsky, Drawings by James Stevenson

National Poetry Month is still a month away, but it not too soon to indulge in a little poetry reading, especially if it is as much fun as A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky. While the poems are aimed at children, anyone can enjoy them. Here is a sample:

The Manatee

I'm partial to the manatee,
which emanates no vanity.
It swims amidst anemones
and hasn't any enemies.

Prelutsky loves to play with words, some of which I am sure are a challenge to youth. I can imagine that some slower readers will just say "huh?" when reading terms like "dromedary," "cranium," "fastidious," and "unmitigated rancor." Others will catch on and expand their vocabularies. How are they going to learn unless someone interesting uses good vocabulary?

Here is another short poem:

Chuck

I'm Chuck, the chore evader
and adept procrastinator.
I've got a lot of strategies-
I'll demonstrate them later.

Paretsky must have grown up reading Ogden Nash and Dr. Seuss. He uses quick rhyming, alliteration, and nonsense. He writes backwards, makes readers turn the pages in circles, and fills some poems with puns. The poems are best read aloud, if you can keep your tongue from twisting.

There is much to love and remember.

I think I have met Miss Misinformation on page 30.

Swami Gourami's ability to predict the past, described on pages 102-3, might be useful.

I wonder about cream of camel camembert soup, page 49.

We all know a teenage hippopotamus, page 99.

So put down your T.S. Eliot and John Milton for awhile and try one of Jack Prelutsky's books. You can't help but smile.

Prelutsky, Jack. A Pizza the Size of the Sun. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1996. ISBN 0688132359

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy began in 1978 as a radio comedy. Upon request, Douglas Adams turned it into a book that begot other books, and the BBC made a five episode television series. It was all tremendously successful and has been very lovingly remembered. In 2005 a new recording by Stephen Fry was probably not needed, but some one said "Hey, let's do it!" I am glad they did. Fry's reading is uproariously, laugh-out-loud funny. (Maybe that's how I got the hernia.)

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Pocket Books, 1981. ISBN 0671746065

5 Compact discs. Santa Ana, CA : Books on Tape, p2005. ISBN 1415922551

The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them

There are two kinds of people: those who know exactly which books changed their lives and those who do not know so they change the question. In The Book That Changed My Life, both groups are represented, and writers from both say remarkable things about books, reading, writing, and themselves.

Who would every guess that the Chinese author Da Chen would offer The Count of Monte Cristo as the book that led to his being a writer. The writer's village was very poor and the local communist council controlled reading very closely. When a ex-convict set up a rental library with stolen books, the title by Dumas was the first that Da Chen could rent with the penny he got for selling an empty toothpaste tube. I have put his memoirs Colors of the Mountain and Sounds of the River on my reading list.

Jack Prelutsky's story is similar to Da Chen's in that he chose the first book that he read, A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. Prelutsky grew up to write many books of poems for children, including A Pizza the Size of the Sun. That sounds like a book for me.

Anne Perry makes The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton sound like essential reading.

Richard Rhodes' case for reading Albert Schweitzer's Out of My Life and Thought and Hugh Lofting's Doctor Doolittle books interests me in his own A Hole in the World.

As I look over these statements and my other notes, I see a trend. I am mostly choosing the works by the contemporary writers over the books they themselves recommend.

The Book That Changed My Life was compiled and edited by Roxanne J Coady and Joy Johannessen of R. J. Julia Booksellers of Madison, Connecticut, who both add their own reading suggestions to the back of the book. Profits from the book go to Read to Grow, a nonprofit organization that gives books to babies and children in Connecticut. Buying and reading are in this case very positive acts.

The Book That Changed My Life. New York: Gotham Books, 2006. ISBN 1592402100

I'm in the Change the Question Group

I find the question "What book changed your life?" hard to answer.

1. I want to say Readers' Digest Condensed Books. I say this not because I read them, but I witnessed my mother and her friends in rural west Texas reading them. In the 1960s subscribers to RDCBs got four volumes per year, each holding three to five titles by contemporary authors. Mom read them, criticized them if they did not meet her standards, and loaned them to nonsubscribers. From RDCBs I got the notion that there was a book world somewhere far away.

2. I also want to say John Audubon, Boy Naturalist by Miriam Evangiline Mason. In fourth grade I read the entire book the day I checked it out from the library. I do not remember ever being so taken with a book before that day.

3. Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry is a book that I admire highly. I read it just three years ago. Knowing that such good stories are available, I never have to read anything inferior again.

4. I am still seeking the book that changes my life. It is still out there.

5. As several of the writers in The Book That Changed My Life say, every book changes me.

Directory of Health and Human Services in Metropolitan Chicago, 2007-2008

The Thomas Ford Memorial Library just received its 2007-2008 edition of Directory of Health and Human Services in Metropolitan Chicago. The reason I mention this is that the publication of this useful source has been somewhat erratic and not well-publicized in recent years, due to funding. We did not get one of the editions because we ordered too late and copies were all gone.

An online version is also available for $175. The print version is $100 plus $5 shipping. All the information is available at the Community Resource Network website. Use the drop-down menu to specifiy the edition you want.

New York Botanical Garden

I want to go!

The New York Botanical Garden is a big, beautiful book full of dazzling photographs of colorful plants and gardens that contrast sharply with the bare trees, dead grass, and remains of snow outside my windows. As I look through its pages, I want to go to New York, a place I've never been, and wander though the 250 acres of gardens and woods along the Bronx River. It also makes me think of the great gardens and arboretums that I have seen. Some are near me in the Chicago area. Is it still February? I should bundle up and go out any way.

The text of The New York Botanical Gardens tells of the park's history, describes the many special gardens, advises visitors where to find spectacular plants, describes the library and herbarium collections, and tells of international research supported by the organization. The photos, however, are the real emphasis of the book. On page 48 is a photo of late-flowering Korean chrysanthemums that is dazzling. Pages 72 through 81 show the world famous Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. Page 144 shows the double row of huge autumn gold tulip trees approaching the brick, limestone, and terra-cotta library. Pages 171 and 172 show pink magnolias in bloom. Nearly every page of the book impresses.

The New York Botanical Garden is a large book that is a little heavy to hold. Settle onto a comfortable couch or sit at a table. Take your time. Pretend you are there.

The New York Botanical Garden. New York: Abrams, 2006. ISBN 0810957442

Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination by Barbara Hurd

Sometimes I find great books by accident. I was helping a client gather books on global warming, kneeling to the right of some real estate books in the Dewey 333 area, when I spotted Stirring in the Mud by Barbara Hurd. The cover photo of a swamp with a dragonfly drawn on to it, the intriguing title, and the compact size of the book caught my eye. Jane Brox wrote one of the blurbs on the back. It just looked like a book I would want to read.

Barbara Hurd is an English teacher and poet who has loved swamps since her childhood. She has traipsed them on her own and with naturalists all her life, getting wet and muddy in an effort to see what is under surface and behind the bush. In Stirring the Mud, she visits wetlands in her native Maryland, Louisiana, and Alaska. She also tells about a trip to Tibet.

Hurd is a keen observer and thinker, and her book is full of passages that should be read and reread and sent to friends.

"There is no escaping the universal drama here: Isis lies down in the swamp with the dead, becomes mystery herself, and gives birth to silence. Haven't we all done the same? Slept with the past, courted dead ideas, been born into muck, found ourselves draped in a fine sheen of the worn and silky sediment of surrounding mountains, our hands slicked with the debris of the world? We raise our fingers to our eyes, wipe away mud, lift our heads and look around. For miles, for continents, for eons, the world seems to battle and blaze. We hunger for its glory. Then, singing and swinging my arms one day, I learned that what I approach in the swamp deflates its throat, withdraws its song. The question is how we can keep crashing about, proclamatory and crass, once we know that so much of the world grows silent in the face of our loutishness? Why don't we spend our whole lives, like Isis and her son, veiled and silent?"

I found the book with this passage next to the real estate books. The Library of Congress recommended the Dewey number 333.91'8'01. This is so wrong. The book is about nature, philosophy, the human spirit, and poetry. It should be with Walden and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Stirring the Mud should be in libraries everywhere.

Hurd, Barbara. Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001. ISBN 0807085448

Libraries, the Retail Customer Service Model, and Feel Good Marketing: Updated

Sometimes a pattern only appears when it is broken.

When I shop at retail stores, clerks usually smile and sometimes comment about the weather, but they do not say very much. Until recently they have rarely said anything about what I buy. Occasionally a clerk at a clothing store might say "I like that color" or a grocery clerk might say "That's on sale. I should get a couple." These comments seemed mostly undirected.

I had not realized until this weekend that there is a new pattern. At both the big supermarket and the friendly speciality grocery, I have heard many comments recently about what I brought up to the register.

"I really like these apples. They are so crisp."

"Ghirardelli brownies! I bet they're good."

"You'll like those enchiladas."

"That's my favorite nut mix. That little bit of coconut makes it so good!"

"You found the Thai mixes. My favorite is the satay. Have you tried it?"

I have not heard so much from clerks since I had a toddler in the shopping cart. Could it be the few gray hairs at my temples that makes me more approachable?

I only thought about this about after shopping at an office supply store. A young clerk was being trained by a manager. As she checked me out, she said cautiously, "That's a really nice binder."

I walked back to my car wondering why she said that. It was just a plain blue plastic binder. Then it struck me. She is being taught to compliment the customer's selections. The idea is to make the customer feel good about buying something from her store. She hadn't gotten the hang of it yet.

Of course, this made me think about the library.

The idea of marketing a good feeling is not a bad idea. We may want to do it in libraries, too, but our comments have to be honest and natural. Any falsehood is quickly spotted.

Also, complimenting someone every time you see will rouse suspicions. People will wonder if we are trying to manipulate them or secretly make fun of them.

There has been much emulation of retail models of customer service in libraries in recent years. It does not always work. I hope I never see a library consultant pressing "feel good comments about what people borrow" onto our public service staff. We should stay honest and friendly and only say "I liked that book" if it is true.

As long as we stay friendly and helpful and real, we will cultivate good feeling.

Update: This is getting more comments than most of my blog posts, and a variety of viewpoints are being expressed. The discussion has brought up several ideas that I was not connecting.

For clarification about my viewpoint, let me say I see nothing wrong with honest, unforced comments by service staff at retail or in the library. I like talking with people and enjoy some of these little convesations, so long as they are tactful. Having clerks forced to comment or being kept from commenting both seem wrong to me. Also, I do not like the idea of being subliminally marketed.

Elephant by Steve Bloom

When I first saw the cover on Elephant by Steve Bloom, with all the birds flying around the lead elephant in a group (look around the back), I knew I would dive in. Having twice gone on camera safari in Tanzania and Kenya, where we had close encounters with elephants, I am always ready to relive our experiences. Bloom's great photographs deliver what I need to go back. I am awash in memories.

Bloom either has big zoom lenses or gets very close to the elephants. You can see the bristles on the elephants' hides. He captures motion, too. Dust flies, mud splatters, and water splashes. There seems to be a shock wave coming from the elephant on page 116. He also captures the spiritual mystique of elephants. On pages 176-177 an elephant stands in a shaft of sunlight in a dense woods.

Bloom spent much of his time at Chobe in Botswana, but he also visited other African countries. The latter part of the book focuses on Asian elephants. He includes a series of cool underwater photographs of a Thai elephany named Rajan and another series of elephants brightly painted for the Jaipur Elephant Festival.

You can see some of Bloom's elephant photos at his website.

There is no animal more impressive than the elephant. Seeing herds of elephants is awesome, as they move with agility and grace, young and old, with purpose and resolve. The next best thing to being in Africa or on the Indian subcontinent to see the elephants is looking through a book like Elephant. Libraries should get this book.

Bloom, Steve. Elephant. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0811857271